<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Broken Sphere by ReesieReads</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28607877">Broken Sphere</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReesieReads/pseuds/ReesieReads'>ReesieReads</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxious Louie Duck, Arguing, Crying, Dewey Duck Needs a Hug, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, Family Drama, Family Issues, Gen, Honorary Duck Family Member Webby Vanderquack, Huey Duck Needs a Hug, Huey Duck has the Duck Family Temper, Louie Duck Needs a Hug, Older Sibling Huey Duck, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Webby Vanderquack Needs a Hug, greenie beanies</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:35:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,363</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28607877</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReesieReads/pseuds/ReesieReads</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Mom?” Both boys asked together, eyes wide with shock. The smooth glass slipped from Louie’s fingers as the duckling’s grip slackened from surprise, time seeming to slow as the sphere fell towards the hardwood floor.</p><p>A loud shatter echoed throughout the room.</p><p>Neither triplet dared to breath as they stared down at the hundreds of little blue shards scattered at their feet. Whatever mist had been inside the sphere dissipated in the air like smoke, taking the memory of their mother along with it.</p><p>Then Dewey walked in.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dewey Duck &amp; Webby Vanderquack, Huey Duck &amp; Louie Duck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>90</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Shattered</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodaschemes/gifts">sodaschemes</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/cookies_loves_duckies/gifts">cookies_loves_duckies</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Louie was looking through Dewey’s stuff.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sure, it was an invasion of privacy, but it wasn’t as if they hadn’t snooped in each other’s things before! Besides, he just </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew </span>
  </em>
  <span>Dewey was hiding something. His older brother had been talking to him and Huey far less since they had arrived at the mansion, and that could only spell trouble.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That’s how Louie found the sphere.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hadn’t been searching for very long, only having shuffled through a few drawers, but it’s when he looked in Dewey’s duffle bag that he found the jackpot. Louie didn’t even know where his brother had gotten the bag (considering Donald had always been too poor to get them something so nice), but something told him it was probably a gift from Webby.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pushing aside wrinkled blue shirts, Louie was shocked to see something </span>
  <em>
    <span>glowing. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It wasn’t a sparkly type of glowing either, more like a bright blue light bulb. Digging into the very bottom of the bag, he pulled out a shining blue sphere. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>‘What?..’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just as Louie was about to study the orb further, Huey walked in. The eldest triplet eyed him carefully, brows furrowed in confusion. The youngest could only shrug, “I found it in Dewey’s bag.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Huey looked over him carefully, suddenly nervous. “Why were you going through his stuff?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, come on,” Louie shot back, “you know just as well as I do that he’s been hiding something!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The older duckling nodded hesitantly, “still, I don’t think we should-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s not like he’s going to know,” Louie pointed out, “and besides, anything he hides from </span>
  <em>
    <span>us </span>
  </em>
  <span>has got to be dangerous right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Knowing Dewey, most likely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Giving in, Huey wandered over to sit next to his brother.  As the eldest it </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>his job to make sure his siblings weren’t getting into any trouble. Unfortunately, that sometimes meant going behind their backs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Louie looked over the orb carefully, unsure of its purpose. It looked almost like a marble, a white mist swirling in the middle. Dragging his finger against it, both boys gasped at the image that formed inside the sphere.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Scrooge was talking to Storkules, both hands on his cane as he looked up to the larger bird. Selene stood on the other side, talking to a much shorter duck with cropped hair. The duck wore a blue scarf and a brown aviator jacket, googles resting on the top of her head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Mom?” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Both boys asked together, eyes wide with shock. The smooth glass slipped from Louie’s fingers as the duckling’s grip slackened from surprise, time seeming to slow as the sphere fell towards the hardwood floor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A loud shatter echoed throughout the room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Neither triplet dared to breath as they stared down at the hundreds of little blue shards scattered at their feet. Whatever mist had been inside the sphere dissipated in the air like smoke, taking the memory of their mother along with it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then Dewey walked in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“How could you?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Huey winced at the </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurt </span>
  </em>
  <span>in his brother’s tone, but he forced himself to meet Dewey’s gaze. </span>
  <em>
    <span>They </span>
  </em>
  <span>weren’t the ones who had been hiding information about their Mom, and as such Dewey wasn’t the only one who had the right to be angry.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I-it was an accident!” Louie stuttered, “I was just surprised, I didn’t meant to-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why were you even looking through my stuff?” The middle triplet snapped, voice filled with venom despite the fact that he looked close to tears.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We knew you were hiding something,” Huey cut in calmly, trying to keep a hold of his emotions despite the rage crawling beneath his feathers. One of them needed to keep their cool, and with both Dewey and Louie close to tears it looked like he would have to do it himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dewey sputtered, fists clenching, “that doesn’t mean you just </span>
  <em>
    <span>go through my stuff!”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You hid stuff about our </span>
  <em>
    <span>Mom!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Huey snapped back, “did you seriously think you could get away with that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A heavy silence fell over the trio for a moment, the only sounds being Louie’s small sniffles and the scratch of glass shards against the floor. Huey didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>want </span>
  </em>
  <span>to fight (he never liked arguing with his brothers) but Dewey hadn’t given him a choice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You just wanted to feel </span>
  <em>
    <span>special, </span>
  </em>
  <span>didn’t you?” He spat, ignoring the dull panic in the back of his mind as his anger blinded him. “Classic Dewey!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I was trying to protect you!” Dewey snapped, “we didn’t know if Mom was a bad person or not! I needed to know more before I could-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“We?” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Louie asked, voice almost a whisper but no less cutting, “you told someone else before us?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dewey’s eyes went wide, shoulders hunching over himself. He looked </span>
  <em>
    <span>guilty, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and if Huey weren’t so mad he likely would have at least tried to hear his brother out. He was too far gone though, mind blanking as he glared at his younger brother.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just Webby!” The middle triplet said, voice jumping an octave, “she was able to help me think through the letter and find Selene-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A </span>
  <em>
    <span>letter?” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Huey asked, “just how much are you hiding from us?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The duckling floundered, looking for some sort of excuse or explanation. There wasn’t any though. Instead of panicking Dewey stood upright, features hardening into steely anger. It reminded Huey of their Uncle Scrooge when he got upset.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“You're </span>
  </em>
  <span>the ones who broke Mom’s sphere!” Dewey said, and Louie flinched at the comment. “That was the only thing we had of Mom, and you </span>
  <em>
    <span>broke </span>
  </em>
  <span>it!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Huey didn’t know how to respond to that, and Dewey didn’t give him a chance too. Scooping up a few of the blue shards into his hands, the middle triplet stormed out of the room. </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘Probably to go talk to Webby,’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>Huey thought to himself bitterly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry…” Louie said after a moment, arms wrapped tightly around his stomach. “I really didn’t mean to break it I-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s not your fault,” Huey replied easily, pulling his youngest brother into a hug, “none of this would have happened if Dewey had just told us in the first place.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>‘Or Webby,’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>he reminded himself, </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘she lied to us too.’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s going to happen now?” Louie asked him, kicking some of the glass around them with his foot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know…” Huey said honestly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>‘And I’m scared to find out.’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dewey </span>
  <em>
    <span>didn’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>go to see Webby.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wanted to, because over the last few months Webby had become his closest friend and confidant. But he didn’t want to face the inevitable ‘I told you so’ he knew she could throw at him. He was already having a hard enough time with Huey’s remarks still ringing in his ears.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>‘You just wanted to feel special didn’t you? Classic Dewey!’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He knew Huey had every right to be angry, but that didn’t stop Dewey from being hurt by his words. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The glass shards still cradled in his hands, Dewey made his way to his ‘hiding spot’ (which was really just the closet he had hid from the robot in). He had claimed it as a spot to go and think, or for him and Webby to talk about the Spear of Selene in secret.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At the moment, it was a spot for him to hide while he cried.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As soon as he closed the closet door behind him, he could feel his eyes start to sting with tears. His hands shook as he carefully placed the glass shards down on a box of old files. Dewey fell to the floor once all the glass was safety secured, hugging his knees to his chest and hiding his face in his hands.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>‘You shouldn’t be crying,’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>he thought to himself, </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘you're being ridiculous.’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The thoughts lacked substance though, and Dewey found it easy to ignore them. One of the many things Donald had made sure they knew was that it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>okay </span>
  </em>
  <span>to cry. He wasn’t sure if his Uncle meant crying alone in a closet or anything, but Dewey figured it was close enough.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Besides, he had a lot to cry about.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not only were his brothers </span>
  <em>
    <span>furious </span>
  </em>
  <span>with him, but they had broken his only connection to their Mom. Sure, they still had a picture of Della’s letter, but that wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>enough. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It wasn’t the </span>
  <em>
    <span>same. </span>
  </em>
  <span>The sphere was tangible evidence that his Mom had been there, that she had been alive and well once. It was a comfort Dewey wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He knew blaming his brothers was petty, and that it had been an accident, but Dewey just couldn’t help himself. He would have told them about all the stuff they’d found about their Mom eventually! And the sphere wouldn’t have been broken if they had just stayed out of his things. Just because they were triplets didn’t mean they could just invade each other’s privacy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>‘You just wanted to feel special, didn’t you?’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dewey </span>
  <em>
    <span>would </span>
  </em>
  <span>have told them, and he reminds himself of this fact over and over again. It does nothing to ease the aching guilt in his chest though, nor does it fix the problem. It was too late to tell them now, and either way he knows they would have been (rightfully) angry with him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dewey?” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Webby. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“I know you're in there, please let me in.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Scrubbing at his face harshly, Dewey wondered if he could somehow manage to hide. He didn’t want Webby to see him at the moment, even if logically he knew she wouldn’t judge him. Webby would find him in an instant though (spy training helped with things like that), so there really wasn’t a point.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Webby says after a moment, her voice muffled through the door. “I just want to make sure you're okay.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dewey didn’t respond, he couldn’t even if he wanted to, his throat sore from holding in sobs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Behind the door, Webby sighed, “Huey snapped at me earlier… they know about Della and everything don’t they?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His silence was enough of an answer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll be quiet now,” she told him softly, “but I’ll be out here if you need me okay?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He could hear brief shuffling and a thump, signaling that Webby was planning on staying until he replied. A part of him was glad she cared so much (he had doubted she would, or that anyone else would for that matter). Sighing, Dewey grabbed the smallest shard of glass he could find and slipped it under the door.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t feel like talking, but he felt she deserved some sort of explanation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Webby didn’t speak for a long time, and while he waited Dewey focused on trying to get a hold on his emotions. He wiped away the tears under his eyes with his sleeves, and choked down sobs despite the painful ache in his throat from doing so.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, Dewey,” Webby said finally, and he could practically see the sad look on her face as she said it. “I know that sphere meant a lot to you… that your </span>
  <em>
    <span>Mom </span>
  </em>
  <span>means a lot to you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He swallowed, inhaling a shaky breath through his nose.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We can still try to find out what happened to her,” she offered, “we still have the letter…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dewey wanted that </span>
  <em>
    <span>desperately, </span>
  </em>
  <span>but he knew he couldn’t. Huey and Louie were furious with him, and it’s not like he could even blame them. Going on with the search would be cruel, and Dewey didn’t want things to get any worse then they already were.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I hope you’re okay…” Webby said, her voice cusping on a whisper, “you mean alot to me, all three of you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hesitantly, Dewey stuck his fingers under the door, hoping it was a good enough action to calm Webby’s nerves. She laced her fingers with his loosely, and if she noticed the way his hand was shaking she didn’t say anything about it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two sat there for a long time.</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Shards</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Huey was angry, and not in the usual way.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Typically, his anger was fast and burning like his Uncle’s. Huey would see red and come back to himself minutes later to find things (or sometimes </span>
  <em>
    <span>people) </span>
  </em>
  <span>smashed and broken around him. It was terrifying but at least it was over quickly, after his little outburst his anger would fade completely and Huey could work on damage control undisturbed by his fickle </span>
  <em>
    <span>emotions.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>This time the anger simply </span>
  <em>
    <span>festered. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It was a heavy weight on his chest, making every breath come in harsh and fast. Simple actions like closing doors or setting the table were done aggressively without him meaning too, slammed and banged about without a single sense of care. Worst of all, Huey could feel the feral tug of the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Duke of Destruction </span>
  </em>
  <span>in the back of his mind, looming over him when he had much more important things to worry about.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t stand to be around Dewey or Webby anymore.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn’t like he </span>
  <em>
    <span>wanted </span>
  </em>
  <span>to avoid them exactly (in fact things would be so much easier if they just sat down together and </span>
  <em>
    <span>talked) </span>
  </em>
  <span>but Huey didn’t trust himself to not go feral around them just yet. The last conversation had proven just how little control he had when he was angry, and no matter how furious he was at his siblings that didn’t mean he wanted to </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurt </span>
  </em>
  <span>them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>‘You just wanted to feel special, didn’t you? Classic Dewey!’</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was better if he just stayed away.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ignoring everyone was surprisingly easy.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dewey wasn’t sure if it was because everyone usually ignored him anyway (the darker part of his mind believed so anyway, and it wasn’t like he had the evidence to argue against it) or if everyone was really just that angry at him. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Webby stuck by him at least, if anything she was even </span>
  <em>
    <span>more </span>
  </em>
  <span>clingy than before. With Huey avoiding them and Louie ignoring them all they really had left was each other. So if Webby followed him around, holding his hand or clinging to his arm, who was Dewey to complain?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adventures had been put on hold for at least a month (much to Dewey’s frustration), because apparently Scrooge needed to address his finances or something. Without the ready distraction of deadly excursions they were forced to stick around the mansion (they </span>
  <em>
    <span>could </span>
  </em>
  <span>go outside, but nowhere was the same without all four of them), and staying inside was making Dewey </span>
  <em>
    <span>restless.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We could play cards?” Webby suggested, digging through one of her many boxes that she hoarded in her ‘information room’ which was where the two of them had been spending most of their time after the… incident.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They didn’t talk about it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure,” Dewey said with a shrug, crawling over to help rifle through the boxes for a deck of cards. “Do you even know </span>
  <em>
    <span>how </span>
  </em>
  <span>to play cards?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Scrooge taught me,” she admitted, her voice taking that softer edge it always seemed to when she talked about her time before the triplets arrival. “We used to play poker sometimes when he was in a good mood, he said I was good at black jack.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dewey didn’t know what black jack was, but learning to play sounded better then just sitting around and </span>
  <em>
    <span>thinking. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“Can you teach me? Uncle Donald never taught us how to play Poker.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>‘More like he didn’t have the time too.’</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, okay!” Webby exclaimed, pulling out a rumpled deck of cards from the very bottom of her box. “Found them!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As the girl duckling set everything up for them, Dewey found himself thinking of his brothers. Louie had probably picked up Poker at some point or another (if there was any game the youngest triplet would like it would be </span>
  <em>
    <span>poker), </span>
  </em>
  <span>and even if Huey didn’t know the game he wouldn’t pass the chance to learn about it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>‘They’re not here,’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>he reminded himself bitterly, grabbing his cards and only half-listening as Webby explained the rules. </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘They’re not here, and you don’t miss them. They broke Mom’s sphere, remember?’</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Let’s just play already, Webs, I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh… okay.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Louie </span>
  <em>
    <span>wasn’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>isolating himself, he was just… taking some extra steps to ensure he had some more alone time then he usually did.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>With Huey being a walking time bomb, and both Dewey and Webby ignoring him, it wasn’t like it was hard. He just spent the time how he usually did, watching TV, eating snacks and drinking Pep, hiding out in the attic whenever Beakley came around to avoid her questioning stare…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So things weren’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>normal </span>
  </em>
  <span>exactly, that was </span>
  <em>
    <span>fine, </span>
  </em>
  <span>good even! Adventures were banned for at least a month, and that gave Louie all the time in the world to recover from the last year or so of… </span>
  <em>
    <span>excursions. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He could do his thing, get some alone time, it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>perfect!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>‘So then why do you keep coming back to this?’</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He was in the attic again, looking down at a small box filled with glittering blue shards of glass. Huey had stormed off soon after Dewey had, and afterwards Louie had simply gathered the shards and took them up to the attic with the rest of the old magical items. Not like he could do much else with them (throwing them out </span>
  <em>
    <span>wasn’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>an option).</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s your fault you know,” he whispered, staring down at the shards. They didn’t answer him and his words rang hollow against the heavy silence of the attic. “You left us behind, and now everyone’s fighting.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Louie could feel his eyes burning, the familiar sting of tears gathering, but he didn’t fight them. His siblings were fighting, and not in the usual way. He didn’t know if they’d be able to come back from this, maybe everyone else would make up and cast him out because </span>
  <em>
    <span>he </span>
  </em>
  <span>was the one who broke the stupid orb in the first place.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe this was his fault.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dewey had seemed to think so anyway, and even if Huey wasn’t angry with him </span>
  <em>
    <span>now </span>
  </em>
  <span>he could be later. The fight wouldn’t have happened in the first place if he hadn’t gone through Dewey’s things, wouldn’t have happened if he’d just been more </span>
  <em>
    <span>careful.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He could still hear the sound of the sphere shattering, see the way it had smashed against the floor and thrown shards all across their bedroom. All because </span>
  <em>
    <span>he </span>
  </em>
  <span>hadn’t been careful, because </span>
  <em>
    <span>he </span>
  </em>
  <span>had gone through Dewey’s things, because </span>
  <em>
    <span>he </span>
  </em>
  <span>had to do things the deceitful way instead of just </span>
  <em>
    <span>asking </span>
  </em>
  <span>like any good brother would.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Louie went back downstairs, he left the shards behind.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Something was wrong with the kids.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Beakley wasn’t sure </span>
  <em>
    <span>what </span>
  </em>
  <span>(as if they would ever tell her anything) but she knew something was off. Huey’s anger and Louie avoiding her was enough to tip her off, but the fact that the triplets hadn’t so much as </span>
  <em>
    <span>talked </span>
  </em>
  <span>to each other in over a week was a pretty good indication that things were seriously wrong.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Usually she would leave it up to the ducklings to figure it out themselves. They had proven themselves independent enough to handle their own issues and Beakley didn’t like to insert herself in things unless it was strictly necessary. When things started affecting </span>
  <em>
    <span>Webby </span>
  </em>
  <span>though, all bets were off.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She had noticed how her granddaughter clung to Dewey, how her usual peppy talk and actions felt more forced and downtrodden. Usually Webby was </span>
  <em>
    <span>begging </span>
  </em>
  <span>to go out and leave the mansion, but it had been days since she last left and almost all of her time was spent in that guest room Scrooge had given her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She was acting almost exactly like she had before the boys had arrived, and it </span>
  <em>
    <span>scared </span>
  </em>
  <span>Beakley. Webby had never been as happy or as well off as she had been after the boys arrived, finally making friends and experiencing life in a way she never could before. Even if Beakley wanted to protect Webby and keep her naive to the world's problems, even she could admit the boys and adventures were good for her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She had to fix this, she had to help the children and get things back in order.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So she went to Donald.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>